More Physicians in Congress

The healthcare market is very uncertain with all of the pending government changes, most notably healthcare reform and the medicare reimbursement potential changes.  Because of the uncertain environment many physicians are getting in to public service to be a part of changing healthcare for the better from everyone's perspective, including the physician.

After the latest election the House of Representatives currently has 17 physicians and the Senate has 3 physicians.  Getting involved in politics seems to be a way for physicians to voice their concerns for a realistic healthcare climate.

To read backgrounds and agendas for the latest MDs elected in to Congress, click on the link below or read the full article in American Medical News.

There will be 20 physicians in the 113th Congress, including 9 surgeons.  They are:

• Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY); Orthopaedic Surgeon
• Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK); Family Physician
• Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY); Ophthalmologist
• Rep. Amerish Bera (D-CA)*; Family Physician
• Rep. Dan Benishek (R-MI); General Surgeon
• Rep. Charles Boustany (R-LA); Thoracic Surgeon
• Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA); Family Physician
• Rep. Larry Bucshon (R-IN); Thoracic Surgeon
• Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX); OB/GYN
• Rep. Bill Cassidy (R-LA); Gastroenterologist
• Del. Donna Christensen (D-VI); Family Physician
• Rep. Scott DesJarlais (R-TN); Family Physician
• Rep. John Fleming (R-LA); Family Physician
• Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA); OB/GYN
• Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD); Anesthesiologist
• Rep. Joe Heck (R-NV); Emergency Room Physician
• Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA); Psychiatrist
• Rep. Tom Price (R-GA); Orthopaedic Surgeon
• Rep. Phil Roe (R-TN); OB/GYN
• Rep. Paul Ruiz (D-CA)*; Emergency Room Physician

http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2013/01/07/gvsa0107.htm?utm_source=nwltr&utm_medium=heds-txt&utm_campaign=20130107

Physician Employment: 4 Tips for Successful Contract Negotiation

Ensuring a successful long-term job begins by negotiating a sustainable long-term contract.  Fierce Practice Management has interviewed 2 experts in the physician non-clinical marketplace to determine 4 tips for successful contract negotiation.

Willaim Cors, Chief Medical Quality Officer of Pocono Health System in East Stroudsburg, PA, and Dean Nicastro, a healthcare attorney with Pierce & Mandell in Boston have both commented on ways to ensure a successful physician-hospital alignment before the physician starts employment.  These experts offer you the following 4 tips for negotiating a satisfying and surprise-free physician employment contract.

The 4 tips are:

1) Begin Negotiations with your Offer Letter
2) Read and Appreciate what you are Signing
3) Know the Most Important Provisions to Address
4) Recognize the Contract's Purpose

The article goes on to elaborate on each tip.  It is crucial for physicians to have a full understanding of the entire employment agreement and contract prior to starting to ensure a successful, long-term employee engagement.

Read the full article at Fierce Practice Management, or click here: http://www.fiercepracticemanagement.com/story/physician-employment-4-tips-successful-contract-negotiation/2012-11-05?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal

How Healthcare Reform will Influence Private Practices

The annual MGMA conference in San Antonio offered several sessions regarding different strategies practices can use to thrive in the uncertain healthcare market.

Chuck Peck and Deborah Walker Keegan, PhD, FACMPE are two presenters during the MGMA conference that spoke about ways private practices can continue to be profitable if healthcare reform is fully implemented.

To read more about their presentations and suggestions for private practices to remain strong through healthcare reform read an article at Physician's Practice, or click here: http://www.physicianspractice.com/mgma12/how-healthcare-reform-will-influence-private-practices?GUID=98C7CA21-2AF6-465B-A27F-FC956DFC383F&rememberme=1&ts=22102012

What Makes a Private Practice Successful?

Even in this changing economic and healthcare environment there are some private practices that are thriving.  Although many practices are merging or being bought out by larger health systems, there are some very successful groups that will continue competing in a private model.

What makes a private practice successful   How can they stay competitive when hospitals are becoming the driving force in communities?  MedScape has just published an article on how private practices can continue to be successful.  

The article reminds us that even a physician practice is still a business, and it should be run like a business at it's core.  One of the keys to cultivating a profitable practice lies in understanding, accepting, and embracing the fact that a medical office is still a business. 

Successful practices plan for long-term growth and have immediate and mid-range action plans that advance their longer-term objectives.  Profitable practices also know how to attract attention.  Some practices tout the expertise or specialized skills of individual physicians, who have name-recognition in their community. Others tap their social and professional networks to attract new patients. Still others differentiate themselves through effective advertising that highlights their unique offerings.

Rock-solid practices don't waste their time on guesswork, they depend on data.  They know their charge volume and payer mix and how long it takes to get paid by a particular payer for a specific procedure. Success depends on having the right data at the right time and trying to make the right decisions with it. 

Read the full article at MedScape, or click here: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/772563_1

Turning Hospital-Physician Conflict into Collaboration

This economic climate has more potential for change than anything we have seen recently.  With the possible dramatic changes in healthcare including changing reimbursement models, possible Medicare changes, ACOs, and even the trend towards hospital employments, physicians are bracing themselves on how to be stable in a shifting environment.

Physician's Practice has published an article on how physician's can pro-actively embrace these changes, including new ways of collaborating with hospitals and health systems as opposed to fighting the relationships, to plan for a positive change in an uncertain healthcare environment.



Read the full article in Physician's Practice, or click here: http://www.physicianspractice.com/mgma12/turning-hospital-physician-conflict-collaboration?GUID=98C7CA21-2AF6-465B-A27F-FC956DFC383F&rememberme=1&ts=19102012

How Oncologists Are Bypassing Employment Trend

While physicians overall are shifting from private practice to employment, large numbers of oncologists are bucking the employment trend, choosing to band together instead of selling to a hospital system. At the beginning of 2012, 10 private oncology practices united under a single provider identification number and a single tax ID to become Regional Cancer Care Associates (RC2A). The group now includes nearly 80 oncologists, 500 employees, and close to 300 chemotherapy chairs at 20 sites, stretching the length of New Jersey. There are plans to add 2 more practices by the end of the year, bringing the total number of physicians to over 100.

The merger of practices into RC2A was a way of getting ready for the era of accountable care. As ACOs take hold as a central component of healthcare reform, providers will have to focus more on care coordination and on collaboration, no matter where patients come from or are referred to. Beyond economics, the new practice wants to improve the quality of care and advance research as well. Licitra says the practice is looking also at ways to reduce hospitalizations to ensure a better quality of life for people being treated for cancer. 

Read the full article in MedScape, or click here: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/768815

Increase in Physician Practice Mergers and Acquisitions Expected to Continue

According to data released this July by Irving Levin Associates, a research firm based in Norwalk, Connecticut, there is an increase in the amount of money spent on medical practice mergers and acquisitions from the second quarter of 2012 compared with the same period in 2011.

A hospital or health system purchasing an existing practice is another way hospital employment is increasing in physician employment models.


Read the full article in American Medical News, or click here: http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2012/08/13/bisd0814.htm?utm_source=nwltr&utm_medium=heds-txt&utm_campaign=20120820

6 Critical Questions for Residents to Ask When Evaluating a Physician Practice

There are many criteria any physician needs to ask his or herself prior to selecting their first job out of training.

It is hard to consider every factor when evaluating several different opportunities; here is a checklist from Adventures in Medicine noting a few key points in evaluating an offer.

Read the full article by clicking here: http://www.adventuresinmedicine.net/doctor-career/6-critical-questions-to-ask-when-evaluating-a-practice/?goback=%2Egde_76194_member_147576360

Competition Increases for Physician Recruitment

For either Family Practice and Internal Medicine physicians as well as Surgeons and Specialists, now is the time to start recruiting for physician openings starting in 2013 or even 2014.

Hospitals and groups that are able to anticipate future need and willing to sign physicians in excess of 1 year prior to their availability will get the best choice of top physicians out of leading training programs.

Many 2013 residency or fellowship graduates have already signed with positions to start next summer, many others are in the process of interviewing and selecting positions to start once they complete their training.

Read more in an article from Physician's Practice by clicking here: http://www.physicianspractice.com/blog/content/article/1462168/2095255

Solo Private Practice Not Dead

Despite the recent media attention to the transition of hospital employment and the solo practice physician completely phasing out, there is and will always be a market available to those physicians in any specialty who wish to run a solo practice.

Market trends are making it harder to stay competitive and with all of the attention to quality of life hospital employed opportunities are becoming more appealing to many physicians, however there will always be room for those physicians who wish to operate a private and even solo practice.

Healthcare Finance News has published a recent article on how solo practice physicians can thrive in even this market, and how there will be room for a solo model in any market condition.  Solo physicians may have to shift to adjust to market trends and stay competitive, but they will never be completely phased out.

Read the full article by clicking here:
http://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/solo-practice-physicians-im-not-dead?goback=%2Egde_3898461_member_141158532